We need a Southern Missiology combined with faith in Christ and manifesting in personal sacrifice for the sake of the gospel and the people among us.

We all know about the flatlining and then declining numbers of the SBC related to baptisms, church membership, and worship attendance. We’ve talked about them for years, heard Ed Stetzer’s warnings years ago (“facts are our friends”), and we’ve seen it with our own eyes. While SBC megachurches are still doing well numbers wise, there continues to be consolidation going on, churches struggling, and many churches in steep decline. With the new numbers set to come out in the next few weeks, I thought some overall analysis might be helpful.

While the number of SBC-related congregations increased (up 294), reported membership declined more than 200,000, down 1.32 percent to 15.3 million members. Average weekly worship attendance declined by 1.72 percent to 5.6 million worshippers.

Southern Baptists also experienced a decline in baptisms, down 3.3 percent to 295,212. Reported baptisms have fallen eight of the last 10 years. The ratio of baptisms to total members decreased to one baptism for every 52 members.

“God help us all! In a world that is desperate for the message of Christ, we continue to be less diligent in sharing the Good News,” said Frank S. Page, SBC Executive Committee president and CEO. “May God forgive us and give us a new passion to reach this world for Christ.”

If you look at those numbers more closely, the SBC had 414,657 baptisms in 2000. In 2015, we had 295,212. That’s a 29% decline. In 2005, we had 16.6 million Southern Baptists. In 2015, we had 15.3 million. That’s an 8% decline. Now, we all know that those numbers have been inaccurate for a long time, so the decline might partially reflect more accuracy in reporting overall numbers, but it is still a decline of 1.3 million in one way or another. We can only work with the numbers we actually have.

Average weekly worship attendance is down to 5.6 million people. It was over 6 million a decade or so ago, if memory serves. I have not found the actual numbers online, so I could be wrong. That is also a sketchy number because people might be heavily involved in a church and not actually be there every Sunday due to travel, illness, etc. We live in a very mobile society. But, even the most generous assessment of those numbers show that they are way down.

However, we do now have over 20,000 students in the six SBC seminaries, up from around 15,000 students over a decade ago. Church planting is increasing, so perhaps those seminary students will plant new churches? Replace aging pastors in established churches? Go into the regular workforce as missionaries in a variety of vocations? Lots of possibilities there, as well as questions.

When you look at these current numbers and compare them to past numbers, they show a significant decline. But, when you look at these numbers and compare them to the increasing population of the U.S. South, where the vast majority of SBC churches and members reside, we see not just a flat-lining or a decline, but we see a massive free fall.

The first map shows us what the U.S. Census calls the “US South.” The second map shows the area that is considered to be the “Bible Belt.” The third map shows the counties where Southern Baptists are the largest religious group per county. The final map shows who Republican voters chose in the GOP primaries per county, just to give a picture of where this region aligns politically with candidates (blue is Trump, gold is Cruz, red is Rubio). Obviously, each Southern state went red in the general election and Southern Evangelicals were a huge part of that.

According to all statistics that we have, the US South is still largely synonymous with both the “Bible Belt” and the Southern Baptist Convention, as far as what the predominant religious expression is. Southern Baptists clearly have their largest expression in the South and are the most significant religious body by far. This is also where the Republican Party dominates and Evangelical affiliation with the GOP is well established.

This, however, shows that the decline in the SBC over the past 10-15 years is even more drastic than just looking at the numbers would suggest. I contend that it is inaccurate to just compare the SBC numbers in 2015 to the SBC numbers in 2000 or 2005. Rather, you have to compare the numbers to the region of the country where we have the largest numbers of Southern Baptists.

Free Fall statistically, but, great opportunity.

In 2000, there were 100 million people who lived in the US South. In 2015, there were 121 million people who lived in the US South (according to US Census reports). That is a 21% INCREASE. An increase of 21 million people. So, while the SBC has declined by around one million people overall in that time frame, the region where the majority of SBC churches and members exists has increased by 21 million. So, SBC churches are in decline while the region is in dramatic increase. We aren’t talking about the Rust Belt here. We’re talking about what is by far the largest region of the country with 38% of the US population.

121 million people would make the US South the 12th most populous nation in the world with the 3rd largest GDP, if it were its own nation. The US South has been called the “economic engine” of the United States. In this region, Cooperative Program giving was $195 million in fiscal year 2016. However, it was $200 million in fiscal year 2005. So, CP giving is still down in real dollars over the past decade. But, adjusted for inflation, that $200 million in 2005 would be worth $253.74 million now. So, we’re looking at a real loss of over 23% of CP giving over the past decade.

In a region of the country with the population booming, people moving in from all over the nation and the world, and having the 3rd largest GDP in the world (with over $5.4 Trillion as of 2013) on its own only after the rest of the United States combined and China, the SBC is in decline – steep decline both numbers wise and economically in relation to the massive growth of the region.

In addition, the Nations are coming to the South as the region is becoming more and more diverse. 13.1 Million people in the South are first generation immigrants from all over the world. That’s almost 11% of the overall population. More significantly, 46% of all first generation immigrant growth from 2000-2015 in the whole United States happened in the South (according to data I discovered while working through the US Census data state-by-state). 4 million of the 21 million newcomers to the South from 2000-2015 are first generation immigrants (that’s 19% of all growth). Immigrants are attracted to areas with booming economies and they contribute to entrepreneurship and the business start up culture (1 in 4 new businesses in America are started by immigrants). Fortunately, over 50% of new SBC church plants over the past several years have been predominately ethnic minority, so we are addressing this to an extent. But, there is so much more to be done.

Green Shoots: New Hope

My purpose in this post is not to just say that everything is terrible. It isn’t. I am full of hope in the Lord and in what I’m seeing God do in the South. I travel all over the Southeast encouraging and equipping churches to minister to and advocate for immigrants and refugees. I constantly go in and out of cities like Atlanta, Nashville, Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham, Orlando, Birmingham, New Orleans, and more and I also go through smaller towns and cities. The sheer numbers of people are incredible, traffic grinding, businesses booming, and immigrants from all over the world are everywhere doing business and living life alongside their neighbors. The idea that the South is primarily a rural, traditional, white, religious, conservative area is still true in many ways, but it misses the much larger narrative that is emerging.

In these travels, I am seeing some amazing work being done by Southern Baptists to reach people from all different backgrounds and walks of life. I’ve visited incredible churches, met sincere pastors and church leaders, and have spent time with associational and state convention leadership who are working through difficult problems in innovative ways. There is so much good gospel and ministry work happening all over the South that it is really hard to keep up with it all. There is not a need for a new initiative to emerge out of nowhere. The best approach would be to build on the great work that is already happening everywhere and help link good work with areas and churches that are struggling. God is alive and so is the SBC in many respects through the gospel working and producing fruit in churches, ministries, and all over the South. You can’t look at overall numbers from a 30,000 foot view to get the true picture. You have to get on the ground and see what is actually happening in many places and then build on the good – strengthen what remains.

The numbers overall are dire if you’re pining away for glory days of ascendance. If you compare the current numbers to the massive growth happening in the South with population, economics, and diversity, the SBC statistics represent an actual comparative free fall, not just a slight decline, and that is important for us to recognize. But … (and this is also important), what if all of this represents not some kind of a failure, but a new beginning and an amazing opportunity to not just try to rebuild the past but to thank God for it and put it behind us while we look to what God is doing today and what He wants to do in the future? If we keep looking back to the past and comparing ourselves only and then we make decisions based off of that, we will miss what God could do with us today. The past is passed, even in the South, despite what Faulkner told us.

Some questions for all of us that have emerged from some of my many great conversations with Southern Baptist pastors and leaders over the past year and a half:

How can we actually love God and love one another sacrificially? To bear one another’s burdens? To hear the cry of desperation and need from all parts of our cities and towns and then suffer alongside one another? How can we love the way Jesus loves us?

With an increasingly diverse South, how do we prepare our churches to reach the nations among us? How do we welcome the immigrant, refugee, and newcomer to our churches, our homes, and communities?

In a racially and politically polarized region and nation, how can we consistently BE a people that will love all people and sacrifice our lives to take the gospel to them and share in the partnership of the gospel with people ethnically, racially, and socioeconomically different from us (no matter what ethnicity or demographic you are)?

What does real repentance and reconciliation look like in our communities across racial lines? Shouldn’t Baptists take the initiative in that?

We need significant movements of African American, Latino, Asian, and Arab pastors and leaders into SBC leadership at every level not so we can just say this happened, but so we can all learn from each other, submit to and follow one another, and BE the body of Christ together in this land.

How can we see our faith as not something that exists to promote, protect, and defend our own way of life, but how can we lay our lives down for others so they will experience the love of Christ and the gospel?

We need a Southern missiology desperately – what does it mean to be a sent people to the diverse and distinct cultures living alongside one another in the American South? We need to walk in the way of the Cross according to Philippians 2:1-11 in ways that truly seek the good of others and not just ourselves. We need a way to see the South and our churches that no longer considers the Southern region of the United States “home base” for the gospel. It isn’t and it hasn’t ever been, really. We need to stop culturally locating our understanding of Christianity in a Southern white perspective and find ways to join with all of the people in our communities and throughout our area in revived church expressions as we humble ourselves and learn from and submit to brothers and sisters from all kinds of backgrounds from all over the world that God is sending to us for the purpose of revival and renewal. All of that is happening in many places and as it happens, I would contend that a gospel renewal of the cultural South will make us more vibrant, more loving, more hospitable, more open and caring and joyful and free than we’ve ever been before. I’m seeing it every week everywhere I go. There is incredible vitality, sacrifice, and gospel fruit being born all over the South at this time. God is at work in powerful ways. But, we need more of it and that story needs to become more of the dominant narrative. We need an infusion of hope and a recognition that declining numbers may just position us for gospel advance … IF we will humble ourselves and look to Jesus instead of seek to protect ourselves in a culture that can’t ever provide salvation, no matter how “down home” it feels to us. Only through Jesus can we “tell a better story” together – a story of sacrificial love for God and people.

Jesus is at work on the margins and all through the center. Let’s join Him there no matter what the numbers say.

Author’s Note: If you or your church or association would like help thinking through how to reach the nations and immigrants in your midst and engage in gospel-centered reconciliation across races and ethnicities, let me know. I’d love to help. I have gospel-centered resources and approaches designed for that purpose.

This is very helpful. Recently, I attended a meeting at the International Mission Board. Jim Haney, the Director of the Research at the IMB, stated that last year more than 50% of SBC church starts were ethnic (non-Anglo) church plants. Given the changing demographics of the USA, I found that fact encouraging.

Yes. It has been that way since at least 2012. Over the past 5 years, over half of SBC church plants have been predominately ethnic minority. I look forward to the day when all races and ethnicities worship and plant churches together, but it makes sense to have church plants according to different languages when that happens for first generation immigrants, of which there are 40 million in America.

First, THANK YOU for attempting to provide an honest and accurate portrait of where we are. Appreciated.

Second, in 2008 Frank Page stated that unless the SBC changes their ways, by 2030 the SBC will have fewer than 20,000 churches in the USA compared to the current 44,000 (the number when he made this statement).

Third, the SBC currently, and has had, a serious problem with a flawed METRIC – numbers, numbers, numbers! The NT Metric is transformation. Are people consistently becoming more like Christ in character & conduct? The TRUTH is this – – if there is no transformation there is every reason to believe there has not been any regeneration!

Fourth, where Iserve we have 130 SBC churches in a county with a population of 80,000. Conservatively 90 of these churches are on the way to closing the doors in the next 5-10 years. But, they rigidly REFUSE to face reality and engage any steps that may bring Reformation & Renewal. If this pattern is true across the South the next 10 years will manifest a tsunami of decline. I pray this DOES NOT HAPPEN but there is little evidence to indicate that it will not.

Finally, the LORD has given me two (2) Radio programs. 6 days a week I make a strategic and earnest appeal for churches to embrace the need for change. Many folks speak with me and tell me they listen every day and greatly appreciate what they hear. But, they have not become the voice for change in the churches where they gather. 90% of the pastors here are Bi-Vocational. They work 40-45 hours a week, have a family, etc. As a result the church has become a ‘preaching station’. People come, hear a ‘sermon’ and go home. Nothing changes. I pray earnestly that this pattern changes but there is little indication that what Frank Page said 10 years ago was not virtually Prophetic!

April 21, 2017 8:23 am

Dan B

Interesting facts and analysis, but I would reach a different set of solutions going forward:

1. Continue to emphasize that children are a blessing, not a burden (we need more married Christian couples having children).

2. Continue to emphasize discipleship within the church (especially for the men) and then also encourage fathers to disciple their children on a regular basis (maybe provide some sort of curriculum to help if needed).

3. Emphasize more inter-generational worship at church. Part of the SBC decline is young adults branching off and joining non-denominational fellowships (if any at all) instead of remaining at their SBC churches. I think one reason for this is that they’re used to being separated and catered to (the children dept., youth, and even college/career are probably worshiping separately and differently too much). No generation should ever feel out of place worshiping together in the regular inter-generational services.

4. Megachurches should consider developing more leaders and spinning off those leaders (and some within the congregation) to do more church plants. I’m not talking about satellite campuses, I’m talking about new self-surviving churches. I think this would be a more effective way of planting and growing than anything NAMB is doing (and that’s not meant to be a knock against NAMB).

Of course, these are all good things and things that churches should be doing from an internal perspective. There are a thousand things that churches should do internally to integrate newcomers, disciple children and adults, retain children and youth, etc. I was thinking more about demographic changes and sheer numbers in my assessment. To take a full picture would require many posts, or a more massive report.

So, your overall conclusions are not different from mine. As a pastor and church leader, I’d agree with all of those – and many more things that churches can and should be doing. We talk about those things A LOT though, because we think internally and incrementally, which is good. But, the masses of Atlanta, Charlotte, and Nashville still will not have experienced a gospel witness unless we simultaneously turn outward in awareness, sacrificial love, service, and joining our lives together with others in significant ways.

We are usually bold about what and who we love. We’ll sacrifice, speak out, become motivated, and put ourselves on the line for what and who we love. Boldness comes from love.

April 21, 2017 3:02 pm

parsonsmike

Jerry,
I agree that we should share the Gospel with boldness.
But it’s not like a formula. As in: more Gospel sharing = more people saved.
We are called to proclaim the Gospel to all, and leave the adding to the church up to God.

April 22, 2017 6:12 pm

David

Allen, thanks for providing a very detailed, fact based analysis. I always enjoy statistics and the graphs give a great visual of what is going on. A couple of other points which I will bring up are as follows:
1. The south that is being born today is in greater poverty than previous generations. The Pew Foundation released a study recently showing the percentage of Medicare financed births in each state and in almost all of the states of the South (and the country as a whole) had a majority of births financed by Medicaid. In Georgia and Alabama, the numbers were in the mid 50’s and in South Carolina, 67% of all births were financed by Medicaid. I bring up this point, not to be condescending, but to point to the changing reality – if churches are going to reach the upcoming generation, the target of their efforts is going to be considerably different from their present membership. This is the case not just economically, but in other ways, too. I would be interested to see how many of the births in the South are out of wedlock – my suspicion that it will follow pretty closely to the number of Medicaid financed births.
2. From what I have observed, many churches have what is easily called “church family” in which the members of the congregation are very congenial and the majority have a similar southern culture (and often economic) background. However, the challenge these churches will face is that they will loose some of that sense of congeniality when they begin to attract people who are from other parts of the country (and in some cases other parts of the world). They will be sitting next to people who have no interest in SEC football or hunting or fishing. One caveat I will mention is that the large mega churches have in many ways gotten around this as they attract large groups who have different backgrounds, but don’t have the “church family” atmosphere where there is a knowledge of the needs of the members of the congregation. Many will not lie that anonymous atmosphere, yet, in many of the large metros of the south, these multi-site megachurches are reaching those from non SBC and non southern backgrounds.
3. A knowledge of the people you are trying to reach is essential for a church to begin its efforts in reaching those in their community. Until there is an acknowledgement that those who need to be reached are not folks like ourselves, I don’t see the declining numbers, you reference, changing.
4. In the past 35 years, there has been a lot of emphasis on theology and preaching, however, given these realities, maybe the focus should shift more to prayer – for God to do miraculous things only he can do.

“4. In the past 35 years, there has been a lot of emphasis on theology and preaching, however, given these realities, maybe the focus should shift more to prayer – for God to do miraculous things only he can do.”

Yes. And to prayer, I would add Missiology. We need to train not just great expositors and shepherds, but “Missionary Pastors” who aren’t just chaplains to the flock, but who also can incarnate ministry into a community – not for the purpose of building a megachurch with mega-programs for every age group, necessarily, but for the purpose of actual community engagement through sacrificial love with people who cannot bridge the church-culture divide and enter into our space on their own. If we lock the gospel up in our church structures and services and force people to come to us for that, how different are we from the Judaizers who demanded unnecessary, surface level lifestyle changes in order to meet Christ and be included fully into the community of God?

April 21, 2017 4:38 pm

eric c

David, New Mexico has 72% of their birth paid by Medicaid. N.M. has population of 2 million , 900 K on Medicaid. Over 58 % of all USA births are paid by Medicaid. States with higher than 50% Medicaid births New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Tenn. and Texas. Nice way to nicely stereotype the South and the SBC members who has sit , financed and faithfully supported the SBC for years. Out of wedlock rates by race black=72% native Indians 66% Hispanics 53% non Hispanic whites 24.3 Asians 17.1 %. What do you think the traditional SBC southern white pew sitter views on the morality of out of wedlock sex and birth were? Now 61% if all Americans think out of wedlock births is ok with the breakdown as liberal socials in year 2002 65% thought ok 2015 77% ok—social moderates 2002 51% ok year 2015 65% ok social conservatives 2002 35% ok year 2015 35 ok.

April 21, 2017 7:27 pm

David

Eric C, I am not in any way implying that the south has a monopoly on Medicaid financed births. My point was that the context of the discussion was the south and I was trying to say that the population of the south is far different than it was 40 years ago – one way in particular is Medicaid financed births and out of wedlock births. Perhaps, part of the reason for the decline in numbers of the SBC while the overall population of southern states has grown considerably is that the churches are hoping to attract people similar to themselves as they were able to in the 1950’s and 60’s, however the people of the south are different from those of those earlier times and this is evidenced by the Medicaid financed births/ and or out of wedlock births.

I would doubt the average member of a SBC church or the population at large in the south has any idea that over half of all children in their states enter the world impoverished. This has significant implications for churches and for our nation as a whole. It seems like it will be more challenging to meet Social Security and Medicare obligations for the exploding population of retiring baby boomers when the future workforce enters the world disadvantaged.

April 21, 2017 10:13 pm

eric c

David, The whole country is changing thanks to the Immigration Act of 1965 which changed the face, society and culture of America and in my opinion not in a positive way. The south is singled out and chastised but I have seen no great wall between the races than lets say Boston Ma. We are talking demographics and that is the inevitable change of Christian belief/western civilization America. As the “typical” SBC member disappears they are not replaced by those who share the same religious, cultural and political beliefs. That is just a fact. Due to illegal immigration , a rich society that allows self absorbed young people to abandon those who “brought to the dance” we are in a state of sea level change. When Texas and Florida turn “blue” (liberal) politically the death spiral is complete . I am saved and you are saved so we know where our future is but as an American who loves the religious, economic and political freedom I have enjoyed in this country for 70 years I am sad. God is and always was in control and that is my comfort. There will be the faithful remnant until the end but this is a self inflicted political and cultural wound America has inflicted upon itself. I grew up in South Florida and know what true cultural/political/society change means. Many on this site are passionate, well meaning, sincere true believers who will in 50 years reap the whirlwind of the seeds they have sown with absolutely the best and most honest of beliefs. If you like I will post the story of my 97 year old Mothers church in S. Florida that is a good template for what many advocate.

What I believe in is the power of the gospel over the power of race. My hope is not in a white, culturally Southern demographic so our churches can be what they once were. My hope is in the transforming power of the gospel that can change anyone and that forms churches out of all races, tribes, peoples, and tongues. Without the power of the gospel, we’re just talking about culture and nativism, which makes sense to the world but is not what the church is built on.

No one here is picking on the South. We’re talking about a Missiology for the changing South. And, it is often native born whites that have left the church in droves. We should seek to reach them too, of course, but since 90% of our current effort goes in that direction already, I like to talk about reaching others as well … in addition.

As for blaming our problems on illegal immigration and the Immigration Act of 1965, both assertions are just false. And, even if they were true, what difference does it make in the current missional context.

We’re talking about gospel responses to what is. I think you wandered into the wrong conversation.

April 22, 2017 7:43 am

parsonsmike

Ten million on our roles but not coming. Hmmm…
Is it okay that we witness to many but they go to another church?
Reaching the lost, does it mean witnessing the Gospel to them or them getting saved?
Should we not evaluate our performance/obedience by our faithfulness to our Lord’s instructions?
Are we assuming that more numbers mean we are living faithfully? I don’t think so.

April 22, 2017 6:20 pm

Tarheel

I would query this:

If the “10 million” or so members (those who made professions and were baptized) have dropped off our rolls/attendance and have not started attending other biblically faithful denominations/churches could possibly be more of an indicator of unregenerate church membership padding our rolls in the past….

(I am not seeing where other churches and denominations are growing at the rate of our losses – so we should look elsewhere, IMO)

In other words….should we consider that it may be a good thing that we have realized that our evangelism practices of “the good ole days” and our all but non existent discipleship methods have potentially produced myriads of false conversions and wet unregenerate membership?

I strongly think so.

That coupled with the fact that many SBC churches are now regularly purging their rolls of inactive and missing church members(and by consequence reducing our padded rolls) .

Also, it is important to note that the cultural seasons we are living in today are not as “inviting” and appealing for “Christianity” as they were in the past – and in fact Christians are facing hostility from the culture and and soon will be facing real persecution…..

All this should be expected. False converts abandon eventually. “Cultural Christians” (such as many were in the SBC good ole days and many are today as well) abandon eventually, as they are not really Christians.

I think instead of wringing our hands and screaming the sky is falling – we should redouble our efforts toward implementing biblical evangelism and discipleship methods and realize that the days of “easy believeism” are ( and with good reason) behind us.

Maybe the emphasis was put on NUMBERS as in get as many baptized as possible because if the person says a certain formula then they MUST be saved.

So church services were structured to get people to say such a formula and get them baptized.

Hence the music played over and over, and an emphasis on the person’s ability to get saved] were well over played.

One scholar, a professor at a Texas school [both who i will not name] even said his salvation was his own responsibility.

Any act of obedience to God is of the Law.
To make salvation a person’s responsibility is to make rejection of the Gospel a disobedience. And thus, acceptance of the Gospel, as in ‘choosing faith’ an act of obedience. The law covers EVERY moral choice human can make. EVERY one.

We should seek to proclaim the Gospel clearly and as complete as the circumstances warrant, and allow room for the Spirit to enlighten and save the hearers of it.

April 23, 2017 8:41 pm

Glenn

BAM!!!

April 24, 2017 4:50 pm

Dean Stewart

The way the SBC reports is flawed. It is not accurate to say half our members never attend or can’t be found. We would have a more accurate count if we counted the total # of different people who attend a church in a month.

Consider a church that has 200 members and averages 100 people on Sunday will likely have more than 150 different people attend during the month. It seems only half the membership attends but that is inaccurate.

“That is also a sketchy number because people might be heavily involved in a church and not actually be there every Sunday due to travel, illness, etc. We live in a very mobile society.”

As a pastor, I’d consider more accurate our number of members and regular attendees who were there 2-3 times a month, in small groups, coming on Wednesday nights. I’d track that for shepherding purposes and would chart those numbers internally. I never reported them, but they were more accurate. That is who was really in our church. Average attendance never told the actual story.

April 23, 2017 10:47 pm

Dean Stewart

Alan, my comment about reporting doesn’t mean we aren’t losing the South as your post claims. The numbers seem to indicate clearly we are losing ground in the South.

I’m one of those 10 million that disappeared. I was a there for SS, then church, then discipleship training, then church, then Wednesday night prayer meeting and Tuesday visitation team person.

I assure you mine was no false conversion. I am still in a Bible believing church, still serving the Lord.

But I’m not a Calvinist, the local church is full on TULIP, and I’m gone.

I would expect I’m not the only person who left because in their local area the SBC changed so much they felt they could no longer support it. I’ve been told that “if you were truly elect you wouldn’t have left” and “you must have been a false conversion” and “well you just signed a decision card, not got saved.”

Nope, as the song says, I was there when it happened and I guess I oughtta know. Besides, I’ve got God’s Word on it.

April 24, 2017 4:11 pm

John Seymore

Sarah, well said and true to point. Seems like a lot of the new church plants are in areas where existing SBC could do outreach if given the training and resources but they would not be reformed. Some of the comments on this are clearly from those who are followers of Calvin. I am counting on the vast majority of SBC members to become aware of what is happening within the SBC and save the SBC.

John,
The ’10 million missing member problem’ isn’t because many new church plants are reformed [you see they don’t actually follow Calvin despite what you are told]. But let me ask you, why do you think existing churches don’t train their people and raise their own resources? Isn’t it the duty of the shepherds/pastors/elders/whoever to train the people in truth and righteousness? Why isn’t the SBC giving y’all help as well?

And how do you know what the vast majority of the SBC believes and desires?
Have a blessed day John.

April 25, 2017 2:26 am

eric c

Sarah, well said and true. Of course the majority of SBC members are busy with SEC football, hunting, fishing and just being good old boys and girls so they would not notice the strong Calvinist influence taking over the SBC. I thought accepting Jesus as my own personal savior secured by eternal salvation but now I am being told I thought it was the altar call and my public pronouncement . Could I not be one of the elect? Also in the article why is the amount of Trump voters in the primary relevant to the issue?

April 24, 2017 4:43 pm

Glenn

Eric

SEC Football is on Saturdays!! Just sayin that youve gone to meddling!! Just kidding man

April 24, 2017 4:53 pm

Tarheel

“I am still in a Bible believing church, still serving the Lord.”

Amen! Glad to hear that.

April 24, 2017 5:44 pm

momofseven

Same thing happened to me. I got smoked for being a KJV girl who questioned why we were doing book studies all the time.

I’ve never yet been to a SBC church that didn’t have high levels of drama. Most people don’t have time for it, and when church adds stress and no peace, it’s a no-brainer when they don’t stick around.

Bob Dylan said, “the times they are a-changing”. Nowhere is this more obvious than when we come to debate southern Baptist statistics. One of those commenting on this post talked about flawed metrics. The metrics are indeed flawed, but few point out the most obvious of the flaws.

It is merely an observation to remember that there was a time when the Southern Baptist convention was an essentially homogeneous group of churches. We looked alike; we thought alike; and we sounded alike. We were a convention of people committed to programs. All of us recognize the inherent problems. Most of us would recognize that we have changed. One of the places where the change has been negative is this: reporting. When we compare past successes and activities related to evangelism and baptisms, church membership, etc., we are comparing apples and oranges. The churches of the past saw the submission of their numbers as part of their responsibility to the convention. That sense of responsibility no longer exists. Large numbers of churches, especially churches with younger leaders, do not report. As the fabric of the old lines of cooperation (church participation on associational, state and national convention levels) weakens, the ability to receive accurate numbers weakens as well.

I serve in an associational churches that is a diverse as any Association that I know. Many of our churches do not have Southern Baptist heritage. Many of them have allowed the fabric of cooperation to weakened significantly and no longer participate in the structures that they once valued greatly. Two years ago, with the changes that have come to the Florida Baptist Convention, I made a concerted effort to encourage churches to submit their numbers. Many of those churches had not submitted numbers in years. We found 30,000 members that had not been reported. Of course, with those membership numbers came increased baptisms, church attendance numbers, etc. (I did not make the same personal concerted effort for this past year. Our numbers are dramatically lower.) All over this country, there are churches busy about the Lord’s work who for whatever reason did not report what happened last year. It is a mistake then to assert numbers that may be as skewed in other places as I know ours are here.

Question: What did the association do after you found the additional 30k members? Help the churches to file or update their ACP? LifeWay has a system for nonreporting churches but I think they drop them from the statistical pool after a few years.

I think about 20% of churches do not report. Some of these are factored in to the annual statistical report. It would be tough to nail all this down but my conjecture is that we aren’t missing any brag points that can be made from flawed statistics.